Harry Potter & The Siren's Song
by GambitsJami
Summary: My rather Mary Sueish Harry Potter fan fiction. First of three.


A Harry Potter Fan-Fiction by Jami JoAnne Russell  
  
There were defiant benefits, Harry thought to himself, of having a godfather, who, even though he  
  
was innocent, was a wanted for murder. For instance, he was now allowed out of the house  
  
anytime he pleased. All he had to say if his abusive aunt and uncle tried to keep him inside that  
  
he'd then write a letter to his godfather and suddenly they were falling all over themselves to  
  
please him.  
  
Still, it didn't get him a new bike. Rather he had to ride one he pieced together from bikes his  
  
obese cousin, Dudley, had broken. It wasn't the best bike in the world and certainly didn't ride  
  
like his broom, a beautiful Firebolt, but it got him around without attracting the attention of  
  
muggles.  
  
You see, this black haired, green eyed boy was none other then the wizard-in-training, Harry  
  
Potter, the boy who lived.   
  
Harry was going on his 5th year of wizard training at Hogworts. His parents had been murdered by  
  
the muggle hating wizard, Lord Voldermort, real name Tom Riddle. Harry had a few run ins with  
  
Voldermort since starting his wizard training and so far survived them all. Even when Voldermort  
  
reclaimed his body....  
  
Harry shook his head, refusing to think about Voldermort. Refusing to think about how strange it  
  
was that even though Harry was living with magic hating muggles like the Dursleys, Voldermort  
  
hadn't made a single move. Instead Harry decided to think about his newest discovery - girls. For  
  
a moment he thought of Cho - but she was quickly dismissed from his mind. Lately Cho just  
  
didn't have the same appeal anymore. She really wasn't that pretty or that special - and besides,  
  
she was older then him, always a recipe for disaster. Harry had found that females mature faster  
  
then males for a reason.   
  
Instead Harry thought about a very different girl - the little sister of his best friend - Ginny  
  
Weasley. He had recently received an updated picture of the Weasley clan - puberty had hit  
  
Ginny, hard and fast. In his letter Ron had complained about a muggle man from the village they  
  
lived near who had refused to believe Ginny was under 18 and had even come to the house to  
  
court her - thankfully Bill had been visiting and threw the creep out on his ear. Judging from the  
  
picture Harry could see why men would be hard pressed to believe Ginny was only 14. Even  
  
though she had a youthful face, her body screamed full grown woman. Suddenly to Harry, Ginny  
  
was no longer the scrawny, kind of annoying little girl who mooned after him - no, now she was  
  
someone who could compete with Fluer - and Fluer was 1/4th Veela.   
  
"Jenkins, I'm not a child." A woman's voice suddenly brought Harry out of his thoughts. He  
  
could tell that the owner of the voice was American, but he wasn't sure what part. Not New  
  
York, though.   
  
"Madam Hood," an older voice, now Harry could see the owners of them, the current speaker  
  
was an older man dressed as a chauffeur. "This is my job."  
  
The American woman sighed heavily. She was a short, overweight woman, young - probably  
  
under 30, with blond hair and even from this distance Harry could tell she had the most unusually  
  
colored eyes he had ever seen. They were the color of green mold, only they seemed to glow, as if  
  
radioactive. Her skin was a delicate shade of pink and despite the extra weight she was  
  
exceedingly pretty.   
  
"I can carry my own bags, Jenkins." The woman, "Madam Hood", said, grabbing for a heavy  
  
looking suitcase that was snatched out of her reach. "Okay! But you have to leave three of the  
  
other bags in the car and get them later. I won't have you throwing your back out!"  
  
"Very good, Madam," the man said, putting three bags back into the trunk of the large town car.  
  
Now Harry remembered. This was the former house of Lord John Hood. Lord Hood had died a  
  
few months ago and had left his money, property, and title to an American relation. Rumor had it  
  
that she had given up her American citizenship so she could legally lay claim to the name Lady  
  
Hood. This was one of the smaller houses Lord Hood owned, she was probably just going to get  
  
settled in here. Or maybe this was the only house she could get for Harry had heard some of the  
  
cousins were fighting the will in court, saying an American, even though she had the same name  
  
and blood, shouldn't be allowed the lands and title that went with them.  
  
The woman now looked at Harry and smiled. She had a cute, heart shaped mouth and lips of that  
  
were naturally pink. It reminded Harry of roses. Though - her smile wasn't as pretty as Ginny's,  
  
he thought.... "Hey kid," she said, motioning Harry over even as Jenkins walked towards the  
  
house. "You live around here?"  
  
"I live a few streets over on Pivet Drive." Harry answered. Up close he was even more amazed by  
  
her eyes. They seemed to swirl with strange light. He shuddered a bit, thinking how much the  
  
light in them looked like the green light of the unforgivable Avada Kedavra curse. She didn't seem  
  
to notice the shudder, however. Instead she held out her hand which Harry took, her handshake  
  
was firm and brisk. Harry found himself instantly liking her.   
  
"I'm Ashley Katrina Hood. Call me Lady Hood and I'll scream. So just call me Ashley." She  
  
grinned a crooked grin. Her eyes flicked to his scar briefly but she didn't seem to notice anything  
  
significant about it.   
  
"I'm Harry Potter. Everyone calls me Harry." Harry said, lamely. Still ensnared by those eyes -  
  
though he found himself comparing them to Ginny's eyes and found them lacking....  
  
"Well, Harry," Ashley said, releasing his hand and leaning back against the car, "it's like this, I'm  
  
going to be living here for the rest of the summer and all I've got is Jenkins. I need someone to  
  
show me around, where the fun stuff is, and since I'm pretty bloody immature for 25 going on 26  
  
I think you're the kid for the job."  
  
Now this was surprising. Lady Hood didn't even know Harry and she was full grown - and she  
  
wanted him to show her around?  
  
"Don't worry, I'm not some sicko." Ashley said with a chuckle. "I'm just an incredibly immature  
  
adult." She looked as Jenkins started back. "Hey, Jenkins, come meet my new friend, Harry  
  
Potter."  
  
Now Harry thought he must be mistaken, for Ashley was so obviously muggle, but Jenkins almost  
  
seemed to look at him in awe, reverence. Even the way he said, "It's a great honor, Mr. Potter,"  
  
seemed like almost every wizard he ever met. Not to mention that Jenkins looked right at Harry's  
  
scar.   
  
"So, Harry, what do you say? Or am I too old to hang with you?" Ashley asked. If one thing  
  
could be said about her, she didn't beat around the bush.   
  
Well, it wasn't like he was going anywhere. So Harry agreed....  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Hanging" as Ashley put it in American vernacular, was - interesting, to say the least. She came  
  
by the next day, in a limo. The Dursleys were struck speechless, which Harry found amusing as  
  
Ashley talked a mile a minute, praising Petunia's hair and Veron's tie. She even ruffled Dudley's  
  
hair. The Dursleys seemed to kowtow to her which Harry found hilarious.   
  
"I hope you don't mind but I'm taking Harry shopping." Ashley said as they left. "Poor kid needs  
  
some clothes that fit. These things look like they were meant to cover a blimp!" As soon as they  
  
were in the limo Ashley left out a sigh. "Thank God we're away from them! I don't know how  
  
you put up with them, Harry. Well, Jenkins, let's get my new friend some clothing suitable for the  
  
Ritz." She winked.  
  
Ashley had played a bit of a trick on Harry. Though she did get him a couple of suits she mainly  
  
bought him regular "street" clothes. Sometimes Harry couldn't understand her American slang,  
  
but then she'd turn around and say something incredibly British - he found out that she adored  
  
British tv shows and movies. Preferring them over American. She even preferred British food and  
  
loved steak and kidney pie most of all.   
  
But the most amazing thing about her was her singing voice. She put on a Michael Crawford CD  
  
while in the car, the British muggle singer was her favorite. When she opened her mouth and  
  
started to sing along Harry felt like he was in some kind of trance, he couldn't do anything except  
  
listen to her sing. He breathed only when she breathed, not making a single sound. Just sitting  
  
there in utter amazement at her talent. Even Jenkins seemed to have trouble driving and they  
  
ended up getting a ticket when he ran a red light.   
  
After that Ashley didn't sing but rather told silly jokes and told about her American life,  
  
confirming the rumor that she was now a citizen of the crown.   
  
"It was always my dream to live here." She said. "I hated California with a passion, the snooty  
  
people, the constant sunshine - I love rain and I'm tired of beaches and all that crap. Besides, I  
  
have to admit I'm secretly pleased how angry it made my parents. They're very controlling."   
  
Harry nodded, remembering how controlling the Dursleys use to be until they started to - well,  
  
fear him. He let Ashley do all the talking, though sometimes she drew him into conversing. She  
  
was different from anyone he ever knew. Ashley was smart, but didn't lord it over people, yet she  
  
was funny - she was kind of like both a Hermione and a Ron. There was even a bit of Fred and  
  
George in her as she was often pulling minor practical jokes.   
  
The hard thing to get use to was the fact that as a new member of nobility, Ashley was often  
  
ambushed by paparazzi and reporters. Both she and Harry were photographed several times and  
  
she had to keep explaining that their relationship was totally innocent. "He's a kid and I'm a kid at  
  
heart. Come on, people, I'm lonely, I need a friend and Harry was the first one in my  
  
neighborhood I met." She said to one reporter. "There's nothing illicit about our relationship - I  
  
would sooner kill myself then to do something sick like that! I just need a friend and I don't make  
  
them easy with adults as I'm often intimidated by them. Besides, Harry's smart, brave, kind - if I  
  
had a son I'd want him to be just like Harry."  
  
Half the summer passed this way. Harry often got letters from Ron and Hermione, both curious  
  
about the adult muggle he was often photographed with. Sometimes Ashley would have a weird  
  
look on her face and Jenkins would look at Harry as if kind of scared. Finally one day Ashley let  
  
Harry in on what was bothering her.   
  
"Harry, do people in England often use owls to deliver joke messages?" Ashley asked over a cup  
  
of tea.   
  
Harry nearly dropped his cup. Quickly he sopped up his spilled tea. "Um - well...." Suddenly  
  
something fell in front of Harry. He recognized the Ministry Of Magic seal. It was from the  
  
Improper Use Of Magic office. He opened it up. Reading it outloud. "Dear Miss Hood, this is  
  
your final warning. Untrained witches are not allowed to practice magic." He looked up just as  
  
Jenkins dropped a tray, shattering the delicate pot on it.   
  
"Jenkins!" Ashley cried out, jumping up and examining him. "You okay? You didn't scald or cut  
  
yourself, did you?"  
  
"No, Lady Hood." Jenkins said, looking pale. He allowed Ashley to sit him down as she ran to get  
  
him a glass of water. "Oh dear - I thought I saw those owls.... Oh blast the bloody Ministry! I  
  
wasn't ready to tell her yet."  
  
"Tell her what?" Harry asked, though he knew perfectly well what it was.   
  
"Lady Hood is a witch...." Jenkins managed to get out just before Ashley returned with the water.  
  
However when she left with the broken pot and such Jenkins quickly whispered. "She comes from  
  
two powerful wizarding bloodlines that went bad about 500 years ago. The Hoods and the  
  
Munchasens. The ones who didn't go bad tried to breed the magic out of them, but two of them  
  
married and produced Ashley who had all the signs of being a witch, the blond hair, the mold  
  
green eyes. Even that bat-shaped birthmark on her right forearm. Her parents are controlling  
  
because they were trying to hide this from her. I've been trying to find a way to tell her. Oh,  
  
Harry," Jenkins said, pulling his jacket aside to reveal that tucked in an inside pocket there was a  
  
wand. "She doesn't believe in magic...."  
  
Harry was about to open his mouth when he heard a scream from the kitchen. He and Jenkins  
  
jumped up, wands out, they ran into the kitchen. Ashley laid on the floor in an obvious swoon.  
  
Kneeling next to her was Albus Dumbledore, fanning her with his hat.   
  
"I do believe," Dumbledore said with a small smile, "I shouldn't have Apparated in the kitchen."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ashley took the cup of tea with shaking hands. Blinking a lot at the strange man in across the  
  
table from her. A few hours ago she didn't believe in magic, but in the last few hours she had seen  
  
a man vanish from sight and reappear a few feet away, objects fly across the room, moving  
  
pictures - those being paintings that had been hidden from her all these months that Jenkins now  
  
brought out and with Harry's help hung along the walls. In fact, the paintings, mostly of Hoods,  
  
all of them with mold green eyes, talked. House Elves now appeared, freaking Ashley out. It was  
  
Harry who calmed her down in the long run. Until Ashley found out that every time she had lost  
  
her temper in the past she had accidently cast a spell that hurt someone. Right down to  
  
transfiguring an old school bully into a frog. Though he had been in the bathroom at the time.  
  
Over this she sobbed, very upset she had hurt people. Dumbledore had sat and patted her hand.  
  
"This is why Lord John Hood left his estate to you. You're the last Hood with magical powers,  
  
Ashley. All the others are all muggles. Non-magical people." He grabbed her chin, lifting her head  
  
up so their eyes met. "Ashley Katrina Hood, I'm about to offer you a very unique opportunity.  
  
Something no adult has ever done before." Slowly he removed a piece of paper Harry recognized,  
  
after all, he had seen enough of them. "This is your official invitation to Hogworts."  
  
Ashley took it. Opening it. Earlier she had been shown the invitation she should've gotten to an  
  
American witching school with her mother's handwriting - pretending to be Ashley's - on it  
  
saying she wouldn't be attending. Now she held the fresh invite in her hands. Staring at it as if it  
  
was all part of a dream. "I really have no choice, now, do I?" Ashley said. "I have to learn self  
  
control. So I'll go - on one condition."  
  
"And what would that be?" Dumbledore asked, though he looked like he already knew.   
  
Ashley looked directly at Harry. "I need to learn some basics so I don't make a fool of myself. I  
  
want Harry to tutor me. And any friends he has whom he might think will help."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
It was one week into the tutoring when Harry walked in on an awkward moment. Ashley was on  
  
the phone, yelling.   
  
"YOU HAD NO RIGHT!" She screamed. "You STOLE my heritage from me! You kept the  
  
truth from me and I HURT people, mother! I hurt people. And the saddest thing is that I might've  
  
agreed to not do this had you told me the truth from the beginning! Yeah, well, that's fine. I want  
  
nothing to do with you either." She slammed the phone down just as it burst into flame. That's  
  
what happened when Ashley lost her temper. Spells shot off. Harry put the fire out even though  
  
the phone was a total melted loss. Ashley collapsed on the couch, sobbing. "They disowned me,  
  
Harry. I don't have any family anymore. Every single one - my parents, my brothers, my nieces  
  
and nephews. They were all aware I was a witch and they all disowned me. Even my cousins."   
  
Harry sat down next to Ashley, feeling awkward. He knew what it was like to be hated by those  
  
who should support you no matter what, but he was only 16. Yet he put his arm around her and  
  
let the adult lean on his shoulder and cry. "But you do have a family." He whispered, picking up a  
  
knife. He didn't know why he did it, but he pulled away a bit and grabbed her right hand, slashing  
  
the palm, then he slashed his own and grasped her bleeding hand. Their blood mingling. Harry  
  
was acting on pure instinct. Words tumbled from his lips he couldn't even understand. He knew  
  
he read them somewhere. Their hands glowed. Something seemed to run thru them both.   
  
"We're family." Harry said.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"You blood bonded with her?" Hermione said in a shocked voice. "Harry, that's a very serious  
  
ritual. That's the most sacred bond two people can share especially in the wizarding world."  
  
Blowing a bit of brown hair out of her eyes, Hermione Granger looked at her friend. "Why would  
  
you do that?"  
  
"Instinct." Harry answered honestly. "She and I are - well, we're a lot alike. Both our families lied  
  
to us for one thing. My aunt and uncle, her parents. We both feel like freaks in the regular world.  
  
Only difference between us beside the obvious is that she picks up on spells quickly. Especially  
  
potions." Harry chewed his bottom lip in worry. The only other person he knew who was skilled  
  
in potions was the head of Slytherin House, Professor Severus Snape. What if Ashley ended up in  
  
Slytherin? Could they still be friends?  
  
Speaking of friends Harry was standing in Diagon Alley with Hermione and Ron. Ron was  
  
grumbling about Harry's revelation. Apparently he was upset that Harry never blood bonded with  
  
him. But Ron hadn't been there when Ashley was sobbing her eyes out. They had met her before,  
  
of course, Hermione over-saw Ashley's tutoring in magical history and potions. Ron helped with  
  
the spells but mostly he helped Ashley with the wizarding vernacular. He was also trying to teach  
  
Ashley Wizard's Chess. Harry suspected it was more because Ashley praised Ron at his skills at  
  
the game then any desire for a new playing partner. Ashley showed no skill at even muggle chess  
  
let along the wizarding version.  
  
Right now they were waiting as Ashley withdrew money from Gringott's. Harry had plenty  
  
himself. He wondered how Ashley was doing inside.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ashley felt sicker then she ever had in her entire life. The speeding of the cart thru the darkness of  
  
the bank had put her stomach in turmoil. The little Goblin next to her, Tomlin, looked rather  
  
annoyed as Ashley had to wait a few minutes before she could even stand. Finally she got out and  
  
entered the vault he had just opened. There were piles of gold everywhere along with other  
  
things.   
  
Taking a bag she scooped up the ones that Harry had told her were worth the most. Better then  
  
carrying a variety. That way she could be sure she had enough. As she did so something caught  
  
her eye. A beautiful necklace with a sapphire set in a gold heart. Without thinking about it she  
  
picked it up and put it on. She never noticed the brief moment it glowed. She went back into the  
  
cart and headed out.   
  
Hermione seemed to take over. Ashley didn't mind. She allowed the children to tell her where to  
  
go and what to do. Getting their robes first. Ron looking upset as he had to buy used robes. After  
  
a whispered conversation Ashley convinced Madam Malkin to secretly slip Ron brand new robes.  
  
The boy never noticed. Then it was off to the book store. Ashley was pouring over a book of  
  
potions when the kids pulled her away to buy her owl. She chose a large brown owl common to  
  
England. One that wouldn't stand out. The male owl seemed to be rather attached to Ashley right  
  
away and Ashley to him. She named him Erik.  
  
The final stop was for Ashley's wand. She let Harry and the others take her stuff while they went  
  
for ice cream. She didn't want to keep them as they looked bored and anyway Erik didn't need to  
  
be kept in a cage for hours which it make take to get her wand. Taking a deep breath, she walked  
  
into Ollivander's.  
  
The little man behind the counter was talking to a tall blond haired man holding a cane with a  
  
silver snake's head on top. He looked at Ashley. "Can I help you, my dear?" He said, looking  
  
nervous.   
  
"I'm here to get a wand." Ashley answered, even as the blond man turned to level an icy blue  
  
glare at her. She shrugged it off. "Go ahead and help him, I can wait."  
  
"Why don't you take a look around?" Mr. Ollivander encouraged. "I'll be right with you. Now  
  
Mr. Malfoy, I'm telling you there's nothing wrong with your wand."  
  
Ashley began to wander down the rows. Boxes and boxes of wands were everywhere. Knowing  
  
that the wand picked the wielder, Ashley held up her hands, trying to see if she felt any vibrations.  
  
As she did she sang softly to herself. "Early one morning just as the sun was rising...."  
  
"I'm telling you it's not casting right!" The blond man, the one called Malfoy, snapped.   
  
"It's not the wand, Mr. Malfoy, it's the caster." Mr. Ollivander said.   
  
"Are you calling me a liar? Perhaps I should test it...."  
  
Ashley's hand whipped up as suddenly a wand ripped free of it's box and flew at her. She spun,  
  
swinging the wand downwards, sparks flying out of it, striking Malfoy and sending him out the  
  
window. "Oh my God!" Ashley cried out, running to the window. "Oh dear.... Sir, are you  
  
alright?"  
  
"I'm fine. No thanks to you." Malfoy said, standing up and brushing his robes off. He was  
  
bleeding but he didn't seem to care. "Who are you?" He looked down at Ashley as if she was a  
  
piece of used chewing gum.   
  
Ashley squared her shoulders, refusing to be intimidated. "Ashley Katrina Hood."   
  
"The mudblood freak." Malfoy said, "I am Lucious Malfoy, you'll do well to remember that  
  
name, mudblood." He looked beyond Ashley's shoulder. "We're not finished, Ollivander." With a  
  
swirl of robes Lucious Malfoy stalked off.   
  
"I'm so sorry about your window, sir." Ashley said. "I'll pay for the repair."  
  
"No need, dear." Ollivander said and with a wave of his own wand the glass was back where it  
  
was. "Seems you found your wand without me." He took the wand from Ashley. "Ah yes,  
  
rosewood, 11 3/4ths, dragon heartstring with a little something special." He looked around and  
  
whispered. "I wrapped a sea mermaid's hair around it. I'm afraid I was a little off kilter that day.  
  
Spent a few too many hours in the Caldron pulling down a pint or two." He chuckled. "You must  
  
have MacFarllen blood in you, my dear. I heard you singing, only MacFarllens with wizarding  
  
blood have voices to rival the Pheniox. Not to mention sea mermaids are known for being music  
  
lovers. Yes, a special wand for a very unusual girl. But not really a girl, are you my dear?"  
  
Once the transaction was completed she exited the shop to find her three young friends waiting  
  
for her. "Did you really knock Lucious Malfoy thru a window?" Ron asked instantly.   
  
"Unintentionally, yes." Ashley replied. "Hermione, close your mouth, you're drawing flies."  
  
Gently clothing Hermione's mouth with her hand. "Yes, yes, I remember everything you told me  
  
about the Malfoys but it was an accident."   
  
"Let's hope it's one you won't live to regret." Hermione quipped.  
  
"My dear Hermione," Ashley said, "I already do."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Getting thru the barrier was the biggest challenge. Ashley had practiced for weeks with a specially  
  
enchanted wall at her house. But all the same she thought she wasn't going to make it. Even  
  
facing the Dursleys when she came to pick up Harry had been easier. She had smiled really  
  
brightly when saying they were heading for the train station together.  
  
"Oh, didn't Harry tell you?" Ashley had said sweetly to the stunned couple. "Seems I'm a witch.  
  
We'll just be going now." And leaving the sputtering couple behind as they went to the limo  
  
together.   
  
Ashley closed her eyes at the last second before breeching the barrier. Gasping with surprise when  
  
she found herself on the other side. Before long she and Harry were on the train in a car with Ron  
  
and Hermione. Fred, George, and Ginny popped in to meet the "newest celebrity."   
  
"Da can't stop talking about you," Fred said. "He's got a thing for muggle stuff, he said you'd be  
  
perfect for the Ministry, you having lived as a muggle for so long."   
  
"Poor mum is getting sick of hearing your name." George confirmed.   
  
"That's not true!" Ginny said, blushing as she realized Harry was staring at her again. "Mum has  
  
no problem with you. She knows this'll wear away when da finds something new to marvel at."  
  
Before long they were gone but other visitors came like Neville Longbottom and Lee Jordan. The  
  
tea cart lady came and went. Ashley avoid the Every Flavor Beans after getting one that tasted  
  
like fish tank water. Instead she ate the chocolate frogs and gave the cards to Ron. They had just  
  
changed into their robes when a slimy voice sounded.   
  
"Well, well, well," Draco Malfoy said with a sneer. "What a motley crew. The celebrity, the  
  
pauper, the mudblood, and the fat freak."   
  
"Well, well, well," Ashley replied, making a motion to Ron to keep his mouth shut. "If it isn't an  
  
inbred git and his boyfriends." She glanced to Crabbe and Goyle and laughed.   
  
All three boys turned bright red and seemed to have trouble forming words. Ashley laughed.   
  
"You three look like fish gasping for air." She quipped with a chuckle. Glancing to her friends she  
  
saw them tittering. Well, Harry and Ron, Hermione looked ready to tell Ashley to shut up.  
  
"Really, young man, what right do you have to insult my looks when you're so pale a vampire  
  
would think you haven't a drop of blood in your body. Eh!" Ashley held up a hand, commanding  
  
Malfoy to silence as she approached him, "I know what you're going to say - about how you're a  
  
pure blood. Really, like that matters. You're so inbred it's sad. Obviously your mother and father  
  
are also brother and sister."  
  
"Don't you DARE talk about my mother!" Draco Malfoy shouted, looking ready to attack.   
  
Grinning, Ashley got straight into his face. Nose to nose. "Then don't you dare say anything  
  
about or to my friends, cretin." Then she pushed all three boys out and slammed the door in  
  
Malfoy's face. "Unbearable git."  
  
"You've made a HUGE mistake," Hermione admonished. There she preceded to launch into a  
  
lecture of how Ashley should've ignored Malfoy and how she could expect retribution. But she  
  
quickly stopped when she realized Ashley had fallen asleep. "Really." The teenage girl huffed and  
  
looked out the window.  
  
Ashley raised her head long enough to wink at Ron and Harry before going back to pretending to  
  
be asleep.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"This is a mistake, Headmaster," Snape hissed as he watched the first years file in. "A full grown  
  
witch I might accept, being untrained and all, but someone with both the Hood and Munchasen  
  
blood in her - it's a recipe for disaster. I'm thankful her brothers were all fathered by a different,  
  
muggle man." The potions master and head of Slytherin house fidgeted in his seat. There was the  
  
tell-tale blond hair. All Munchasens with magic powers possessed it. He had to admit, for a  
  
woman with a weight problem, Ashley Katrina Hood was quite pretty. Especially the way her  
  
unusually colored eyes stood out from her pale pink face.   
  
"I have my reasons, Severus." Dumbledore answered softly after giving the introductions,  
  
including that of the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, Michael O'Connell. "Now do  
  
be quiet. It's Miss Hood's turn to be sorted."  
  
Snape watched, secretly wishing the woman to be sorted into Slytherin - he thought it was so he  
  
could keep an eye on her, but part of him laughed at that for it had a very different reason. Snape  
  
shifted in his seat uncomfortably.   
  
The hat was taking a long time. Nearly as long as it had taken with Harry Potter. Ashley didn't  
  
look happy at what she was being told, and then suddenly the dead silence of the Great Hall was  
  
broken with a resounding cry from the hat.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
"Another one." Snape muttered, glaring darkly as Ashley took her seat at the Gryffindor table.  
  
Just what he needed. Another Gryffindor hoodlum. And this one old enough that he would have a  
  
harder time intimidating her.  
  
How bloody perfect. Snape was sure that God was up there, laughing at him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"I was starting to think you'd never get sorted!" Ron said as Ashley sat down. "What took you so  
  
long?"  
  
"Hat had trouble placing me." Ashley said, scratching her neck, her nails clicking against the chain  
  
around her neck. "Seems I've got the qualities of all the houses. For awhile it was between  
  
Hufflepuff and Slytherin, but then it wanted to do Ravenclaw. Finally he said that he knew where  
  
to place me and then put me in Gryffindor." She shrugged as more students slowly came to join  
  
them. "He also was going on and on about other things. Seems he thinks Godric Gryffindor  
  
would've been romantically pursuing me, said he liked his women on the meaty side."  
  
Harry thought about his own sorting and what the hat had said about him. He, too, at least feared  
  
he was going to be put in Slytherin, though looking back he realized the hat never actually said it  
  
would put him there. Then his eyes met Ginny's and he blushed and pretended to be really  
  
interested in his empty plate.   
  
Finally the sorting was over. The students stood preparing to sing the school song. But with the  
  
first verse everyone fell silent and turned their heads to Ashley. Her voice filling the Great Hall,  
  
though she looked very uneasy that she was now the only one singing. Enmass, the students  
  
began to leave their tables and head for her. The teachers too. Harry felt himself in that trance-like  
  
state, only stronger then ever before, yet his mind fought against it. He and Ginny were the only  
  
ones who didn't move from their seat.  
  
"Miss Hood!" Dumbledore snapped, silencing her. "Miss Hood," calmer now, he stood at the  
  
Gryffindor table, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Miss Hood, but I cannot allow  
  
you to sing."  
  
"W-why? What happened, Professor Dumbledore?" Ashley whispered, looking fearfully at all the  
  
students around her, behind her stood Snape and the new DADA teacher. Snape looking fairly  
  
upset to her.   
  
"You're a siren," Michael O'Connell said simply. "You just put the entire student body and the  
  
majority of the teachers in a trance, in a few minutes we would've all jumped upon you."  
  
"A siren?" Ashley's hand touched the pendant at her throat, playing with it nervously, especially  
  
when Snape narrowed his gaze at her. "But this has never happened before."  
  
"You weren't aware of your magical abilities before." Dumbledore said. "Knowing about them  
  
has awakened and matured the power of your voice. Don't worry, I will arrange for special  
  
lessons. You can learn to not use this power and sing normally. I will show you." He smiled a  
  
kind, fatherly smile. "Music is a powerful enough magic by itself."  
  
"With permission, headmaster," Professor O'Connell said, "we have an interesting opportunity  
  
here. There hasn't been a living siren in centuries. I would like to use Miss Hood to train the  
  
children to resist her call. Though some of you seem able to resist her already." He looked to both  
  
Harry and Ginny - and Neville Longbottom. "Of course since it would cut into her class time...."  
  
"She can easily make up the work," Professor McGonagall said. "I understand that she had been  
  
tutored during the summer. I'm sure she is well prepared."  
  
"I will not release her from potions class." Snape snapped, never breaking eye contact with  
  
Ashley this entire time. His beetle black, cold eyes seemed to drill into Ashley's oddly colored,  
  
warmer ones.   
  
"Perhaps she could make up the class later on - you have a potions class when I do not have a  
  
DADA class." O'Connell said.   
  
"It's a 5th year class!" Snape objected. "I will not - as an American might put it - dumb down the  
  
class for her, even for one day."  
  
O'Connell turned and smiled at Ashley, though Ashley found the smile a little oily somehow. "Tell  
  
me, Miss Hood, what do you know of potions?"  
  
It was like opening a flood gate. Even Hermione's mouth fell open as Ashley began to relate what  
  
she knew. Never looking at anyone but Snape. The information, judging from the look on Snape's  
  
face was completely accurate. O'Connell began to throw out different potions of increasing  
  
difficulty, Ashley related what went into them, how to mix, how to cut, everything right down to  
  
how it would taste. More then that she told what ingredients could be substituted for others  
  
according to taste or allergies. At one point Hermione had to even get her books out and was  
  
rapidly looking up everything Ashley said.   
  
"Enough." Snape snapped. "Mis Hood. I thought you only recently learned you were a witch. Tell  
  
me, how do you know so much about potions?"  
  
Ashley shrugged, wishing Snape wouldn't stare at her like if any second he'd open his mouth and  
  
swallow her whole. "I don't know. I've always been good with recipes and cooking. I read them  
  
and they're in my head."  
  
Snape reached out, pausing as Ashley flinched a bit, and touched the necklace at her throat,  
  
moving closer as he played with the pendant, studying it. "An interesting trinket. Not part of the  
  
uniform. Tell me, where did you get it?"  
  
"It was in my vault, sir." Ashley choked out. Feeling faint from Snape being so close. She  
  
wondered if he ever washed his hair. Why did some men insist on putting gobs of hair product in  
  
their hair and making themselves look dirty and greasy? She watch Snape caress the pendant,  
  
feeling like he was doing something extremely intimate. "It has my birth stone...." Heat filled her  
  
cheeks as Snape stared at her intently.   
  
Leaning forward, Snape whispered in her ear, "Never let anyone else have this." Then he moved  
  
away, letting the heart shaped trinket run over the palm of his hand. "Be warned, Miss Hood, just  
  
because you're a first year does not mean I'll take it easy on you. I expect you to keep up with all  
  
the 5th years."  
  
"Yes, sir," Ashley said.  
  
"Well, now that's settled," Dumbledore said cheeringly, "Let's eat!"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The weeks seemed to fly by. So far no sign of Voldermort and Ashley was doing very well. Harry  
  
was actually secretly pleased to see her exceeding. Especially since the Slytherins made fun of her  
  
at every turn. Whenever he could though he spent time talking to Ginny, which upset Ron a lot  
  
and they ended up having huge fights which Ashley and Hermione broke up constantly.   
  
Neville Longbottom as first was fearful of Ashley and her powers. But slowly he came out of his  
  
shell. Ashley and he often partnered up in potions - by this time it seemed to be generally accepted  
  
that Ashley was more then capable of keeping up with 5th year potions. Sometimes she even  
  
complained that the potions weren't challenging enough. Hermione felt a bit put out, slightly  
  
replaced, but one had to admit that Ashley was just very good at potions. Unlike transfiguration  
  
which she couldn't get and flying which she was flunking. Harry didn't know why and often tried  
  
to give her pointers. She was often put in front of the various DADA classes and made to sing.  
  
Little by little the students were learning to resist her song. And evenings she spent locked in  
  
Dumbledore's office, learning to control her powers.   
  
Neither she nor Harry even told each other about their pain. Ever since school started there had  
  
been a slight, dull ache in Harry's scar. And Ashley's hand where Harry had cut it to perform the  
  
blood bond ached.   
  
Students fell ill to fall/winter colds and Ashley started to change. She grew distant, seemed  
  
fearful. She tended the ill in Gryffindor, going so far as to carry even students taller then her to  
  
the infirmary by herself. She became a sort of mother to all, but Harry felt her pulling away, could  
  
read guilt in her eyes.   
  
So many students got sick that the first Quidditch match had to be canceled. Not even the 2nd  
  
string was well enough to go up. Even with potions to help them regain health they still had to  
  
spend several days in bed Even Malfoy fell ill. Which meant great peace, especially in potions.  
  
Except for Snape.  
  
It was because of Snape that Harry found out why Ashley was flunking potions. The young man  
  
watched as Snape circled Ashley like a shark as she worked on a difficult potion. At the beginning  
  
of the year she had seemed to enjoy potions, but now she looked pale and strained. Dark circles  
  
under her eyes. Snape's hooked nose twitched as he walked around her, as if he was smelling her  
  
weakness.   
  
"It's too bad, Miss Hood, that we cannot brew you up some courage." Snape said with a sly grin.  
  
"Perhaps we could cure your fear of heights so you could pass flying."   
  
Harry felt something strange, like if his stomach fell to his feet. Ashley was afraid of heights? That  
  
was alright for Neville Longbottom - but Ashley? For some reason Harry felt a little of his world  
  
crumble beneath him. Harry rubbed his aching scar.  
  
"Too bad," Ashley replied, massaging her hand, "that we can't find a potion to make you human,  
  
Professor Snape."  
  
"25 points from Gryffindor!" Snape snapped. Then his eyes went to her throat. "And where, pray  
  
tell, is your necklace, Miss Hood?"  
  
Ashley cringed and suddenly looked into her potion as if willing it to rise up and swallow her. "I  
  
lost it, Professor." Her eyes looked weak, tired, the glow was gone.   
  
Harry could've sworn he actually saw concern in Snape's eyes, but it was gone so quickly that he  
  
was sure it was his imagination. Yet Snape briefly put his hand on Ashley's shoulder and  
  
squeezed. "I suggest you find it, Miss Hood." Then he looked at Harry, his eyes narrowing. Like  
  
great black bat wings, his robes billowed out behind him as he walked over to Harry. "And how is  
  
your potion coming, Mr. Potter?" He took a spoon and dipped it in, clucking his tongue at how  
  
thick it was. "Really, Mr. Potter, start over. You've left off stirring for too long. Now all this is  
  
good for is glue."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sitting out underneath a tree, Ashley read. Trying to get away from certain people for now. The  
  
book in her hands was one on wizarding duels and various rules. She hadn't been able to face  
  
Harry since potions class. He had torn into her about her fear of heights. Until finally Ron and  
  
Hermione had to pull him away. He had seemed so - disappointed - in her. As if she had  
  
committed some terrible crime.   
  
"Dueling, Hood?" A slimy voice that could only belong to Draco Malfoy interrupted. "You know,  
  
the best teacher, Hood, is experience."   
  
"Bugger off, Malfoy." Ashley snapped, not in the mood. Guilt gnawed at her and her hand pained  
  
her. "You couldn't teach a fly how to buzz, you bloody inbred git."  
  
Malfoy laughed and so did his bullying bosom buddies, Crabbe and Goyle. "Scared, Hood?"  
  
Taunted Goyle. "You should be."  
  
Standing, Ashley glared at these young boys who were taller then her. If they only knew she had  
  
much more to be afraid of. If they only knew what a siren.... well, they just had no idea. Pulling  
  
her wand out the adult, who knew she shouldn't do this but had been pushed to the limit lately,  
  
said, "Bring it on, Malfoy."  
  
"Uh-uh, we need rules first." Malfoy said. "Duels like this are normally to the death...."  
  
"Till one of us is out cold," Ashley snapped. "Now let's roll." She rolled up her sleeves.  
  
Draco called out the first curse. Time seemed to slow down and Ashley could see the curse  
  
exiting the wand like a bullet. She spun out of the way at the same time she brought up the  
  
counter curse. The spells exploded in mid air, sending sparks to the grass and withering it. Ashley  
  
called out a leg locker but Malfoy used this one a lot so he recognized and easily countered it.  
  
Draco's next curse caused Ashley's leg to freeze up.   
  
"Stupid pig," Malfoy laughed. "Who would follow you, even if you are a siren. You know my  
  
father is going to have you imprisoned until your voice can be silenced forever?"  
  
Malfoy should've known better. It was a proven fact that when Ashley lost control of her temper  
  
she lost control of her powers. Suddenly all the transfiguration lessons made sense....  
  
Harry, Hermione, and Ron had been heading out to find Ashley. Harry was going to apologize  
  
and tell Ashley their plan to get her to get over her fears when the spotted her dueling with  
  
Malfoy. As they began to run they heard a pop and suddenly Malfoy was gone.   
  
Well, not really. Instead a blond rat stood in Malfoy's place. It squeaked indigently, This wasn't  
  
the first time Malfoy had been transfigured, but the first time he had been transfigured by a first  
  
year. The rat rushed Ashley and jumped, biting and clawing her robes while trying to get to her  
  
flesh. Ashley cast a spell meant to put baby mice to sleep and "Ratfoy" collapsed, snoring. She  
  
looked at Crabbe and Goyle with tired eyes. "I win." She muttered before falling back against the  
  
tree behind her.   
  
"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall asked, looking from the sleeping blond rat to the  
  
worn looking adult. "Miss Hood, care to explain yourself?"  
  
"No, Professor, just give me detention and please change Malfoy back." Ashley said, sounding  
  
completely drained.   
  
"I'll do considerably more then that, Miss Hood." McGonagall said even as she aimed her wand at  
  
Malfoy. Soon a sleeping Malfoy replaced the rat, though he still seemed to have some small  
  
whiskers. "Mr. Goyle, Mr. Crabbe, take your friend to the infirmary. Really, Miss Hood, I'd  
  
expect this kind of behavior from a child but from a fully grown woman!"  
  
"He made me mad!" Ashley roared with a small burst of strength that seemed to sap her instantly.  
  
"He should've known better...." Slowly she started to sink down.  
  
Harry and Ron moved to grab her arms but the sudden appearance of Professor O'Connell  
  
stopped them. The new professor scooped the falling Ashley into his arms. "Professor  
  
McGonagall, what is going on here?"   
  
"Miss Hood and Mr. Malfoy was involved in an unauthorized duel." McGonagall answered.  
  
Though her voice was softer now, filled with concern for the woman who swooned in Professor  
  
O'Connell's arms. "Miss Hood, are you unwell?"  
  
Ashley didn't answer. Instead she turned her head into O'Connell's shoulder. Her body shaking.  
  
Hermione frowned deeply, there was a glint of gold visible for a moment around O'Connell's  
  
throat. But then he said he'd take Ashley to the infirmary and turned away.   
  
"Well," McGonagall said, "seeing how you three arrived at the same time as I did - go inside."  
  
Forgetting to deduct points for Ashley and Draco's duel, McGonagall began to walk away.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Today's DADA lesson was on vampires. A subject Professor O'Connell seemed to love.  
  
Afterwards Harry hurried to the infirmary to visit Ashley, longing to apologize for getting so mad  
  
at her. He didn't realize till now how weak she had been looking. How tired.   
  
As he entered he saw Professor Snape talking to Madam Pomfery, she was thanking him for a  
  
batch of potions he brought up. Nearly every bed was full of children who looked - drained. It  
  
was strange.... never before had so many students been so sick.  
  
"And how is Miss Hood?" Snape asked as Harry listened, unaware that the boy was there. An  
  
unusual amount of concern in his voice.   
  
Madam Pomfery clucked her tongue. "She's been working herself much too hard. I've never seen  
  
anyone so worn out and weak. She'll need at least a week of bed rest."  
  
"Why are you concerned about that cheater?" Malfoy whined from his bed, a surprised look on  
  
his face when Professor Snape ignored him and headed for the curtain-covered bed, pausing as he  
  
saw another figure silhouetted against the curtain.  
  
Harry paused too, just a little behind Snape who had yet to notice him. His ears strained to pick  
  
up the whispered conversation.   
  
"Please don't make me to this." Ashley whispered weakly. "I can't take it anymore."  
  
"You don't have a choice." Professor O'Connell, who had apparently beaten Harry and Snape to  
  
the infirmary, whispered back. "Remember that."  
  
Ashley sobbed softly. "Give it back, please, let me go."  
  
"No, you're too useful to our plans."  
  
Snape, still not seeing Harry, ripped back the curtain. "O'Connell, what are you doing here?"   
  
"Simply checking on my prize student," the fair haired professor said, "but you're right, I should  
  
go. Rest well, Miss Hood. Well, hello Mr. Potter."  
  
Snape glanced at Harry, then back to O'Connell, Harry wasn't sure which made him more angry.  
  
Yet Harry felt angry at O'Connell too. For once he was on the side of Snape, probably for the last  
  
time. He looked at Ashley, looking pale and drawn and Harry's heart ached. Something was very  
  
wrong here. Very wrong.   
  
"Hello Harry, Professor Snape." Ashley said weakly. "Do sit down. Please." She looked at them  
  
both, as if begging both of them to protect her from something. Harry complied but Snape did  
  
not.   
  
"You need your rest, Miss Hood. Do not over-stay your welcome, Mr. Potter." Snape snapped.  
  
Then closed the curtain on them both.   
  
"Ashley," Harry said, "what's going on? What did O'Connell want?"   
  
"I can't tell you Harry, I can't." She said, tears running down her wan cheeks. "I wish I could but  
  
I can't....."  
  
Harry rubbed his aching scar, Ashley her hand. Then Harry decided he needed, for Ashley's sake,  
  
change the subject. He started telling her the plan to get her flying.....  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"I don't know about this, Harry," Ashley said even as he finished tying the blindfold in place. Her  
  
owl, Erik, sat nearby, watching with one suspicious eye.  
  
"It'll be alright." Harry said. "Ron, Hermione, and I have ropes tied to your broom so you can't  
  
lose control."   
  
It was true. Harry had the rope on the left side of Ashley, Ron had the right side, and Hermione  
  
had the back. Right now the ropes were slack. They placed Ashley next to her broom. Then they  
  
took the ropes in one hand and held the others over their brooms.   
  
"All together now," Harry said, "1 - 2 - 3 - UP!"   
  
Together they all said the magic word. All brooms, even Ashley's, jumped into their hands.  
  
Ashley, being blindfolded, had a harder time mounting her's. But eventually all four students were  
  
on their brooms and slowly rising into the air.   
  
On the ground a group of Slytherins were cracking jokes about how they hoped when Ashley's  
  
broom broke under her weight that she wouldn't fall on them. Draco Malfoy - or Ratfoy as  
  
Ashley called him - leading them on.  
  
Once in the air Ashley felt panic rising in her throat. She felt as helpless as a small child being  
  
hurled into the air by an angry adult. She tried to imagine she wasn't far above the ground. She  
  
felt the broom turning, left, then right, going up, then down. Slowly gaining speed. Ashley felt  
  
sick. But then she heard a scream that ripped her and a sudden tension from behind. She ripped  
  
off her blindfold to look below her. Hermione Granger dangled from the rope. Harry and Ron  
  
were trying to bring the brooms closer to the ground before Hermione fell off entirely. But they  
  
had one little problem.   
  
Bludgers. Lots of them. More then was allowed in Quidditch. Harry and Ron had to keep pulling  
  
up to avoid them.   
  
Ashley untied Harry and Ron's ropes then ducked as a bludger flew over her head. Feeling the  
  
slack Ron and Harry looked to her even as she brought the broom towards a tree, Hermione  
  
seemed to get the idea and let go off the rope as Ashley flew over the tree, falling into it's cradling  
  
branches.   
  
Flying lower now, Ashley grabbed a spade right from the hands of a startled Hagrid. Then she  
  
rushed back up into the sky where Ron and Harry were desperately trying to escape the bludgers  
  
that were driving them ever skyward. Better then the Weasley twins, even Fred and George  
  
would later agree, was Ashley as she chased after and struck bludgers downwards where  
  
Quidditch players from all houses except Slytherin waited to pounce on them. Her improvised bat  
  
struck each bludger squarely with the strength an adult can only get when trying to protect a  
  
child. Harry and Ron soon could start to descend.   
  
"Ashley! Look out!" Harry shouted as the last bludger struck her in the back of the head.   
  
Even Draco froze to watch as Ashley's broom spun out of control now that Ashley was out cold.  
  
Harry and Ron both made a desperate bid to grab that last rope that was still attached to the back  
  
of Ashley's broom, but now the last bludger came at them, knocking them both apart. Even  
  
Harry's Firebolt was unable to recover in time to catch up with Ashley before she crashed into the  
  
middle of the forbidden forest.   
  
Hagrid called to Fang and along with several teachers including Snape, McGonagall, and  
  
O'Connell, plunged into the woods. The remaining the teachers had a hard time keeping the  
  
students from going in after them. Madam Hooch had to grab both Harry and Ron by the ears to  
  
keep them from flying off. Erik did fly off though.   
  
"We can't just stay here!" Ron protested to Professor Flitwick. "We've got to go after her!"   
  
"Now calm down. Hagrid and the professors will bring her back alive. Now you may help Miss  
  
Granger to the infirmary. Go on now." Flitwick said even as he and many other professors and  
  
perfects stood in front even of secret passageway entrances to make sure no one got out. Harry  
  
knew even with his invisibility cloak he'd be unable to get out.   
  
Ashley was all alone in the forbidden forest with God knew what....  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Pain. There was defiantly a lot of pain, Ashley decided even as she opened her eyes. The broken  
  
remains of the broom laid next to her. Forcing herself to sit up she saw her right leg was broken  
  
as well. She picked up a stick and held it between her teeth, biting it hard as she crudely reset the  
  
bones. Then using the broken broom pieces and the rope from Hermione she splinted her leg.  
  
Never before had Ashley thought she could do something like this, but somehow she did. Using a  
  
tree as support, she pulled herself up. With the help of her thankfully undamaged wand she burned  
  
off a dead tree branch that worked as a crutch.   
  
"Now," she said to herself, "which way is out?" She knew she should stay in one place but she felt  
  
like she was being watched. So slowly she started limping along the first trail she saw. To get the  
  
creepy feeling of being watched off her mind she started to sing. Music was something Ashley  
  
always loved and being a siren she was an excellent singer. It was a wonder no muggle record  
  
company had signed her yet. Really, the only thing holding her back was the fact she was fat in a  
  
world that preferred tone deaf and sugerically altered to talented and physically imperfect. She  
  
sang muggle tunes, from Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber to parody king Weird Al Yankovic. It took  
  
her mind off of other things as well. Such as Michael O'Connell and her necklace....  
  
She had just finished Barry Manilow's "I Write The Songs" when something fell in the path  
  
before her. At first she thought it was a horse. But then she saw two large white wings - and a  
  
horn.   
  
Cross breeding between the equine species was unusual but it did happen from time to time. As it  
  
appeared to have happened here. The - Pegacorn for lack of a better name - struggled to stand,  
  
but something had weakened it though there were no visible wounds that Ashley could see.   
  
Perhaps because it couldn't escape, or perhaps it sensed that Ashley was injured too, the strange  
  
crossbreed of magical horses allowed Ashley to approach and check it over. "Poor thing," she  
  
whispered to it. It's normally white coat looked grey, dingy, as if the purity of white had been  
  
drained from it. It's eyes were glassy and sick looking. Ashley looked around, recognizing some  
  
of the plants around her. She limped over to them and began to carefully pick them. Some had  
  
thorns that caused her hands to bleed but she just stripped the thorns off by hand. At one point  
  
she had to use a sharpish rock to hack off a thick piece of plant. Then she found a flat rock and  
  
put it near the pegacorn. With great difficulty she sat down and used another rock to grind and  
  
pulverize the plants together. When she had a mass of green with a bit of her own blood in it, she  
  
took the mess and offered it to the weakened creature before her. It sniffed at the offering then  
  
with one swipe of it's tongue the mashed plant matter vanished into it's mouth.   
  
As Ashley struggled to her feet the pegacorn seemed to regain some of it's strength. Slowly it's  
  
coat became white again and it's eyes bright. It neighed loudly then came over to Ashley and  
  
nuzzled her.   
  
"You're welcome, I'm sorry what he did to you. If it's any consolation he's been using me too."  
  
she said to the winged beast. "Now could you show me the path back to Hogworts? I have no  
  
choice but to return."   
  
The pegacorn knelt and motioned to it's back. As if some unspoken word past between them  
  
Ashley climbed upon it's back. It stood, not strong enough to fly yet, it turned back the way  
  
Ashley had come and started walking down the path, careful to not jostle Ashley's leg too much.   
  
A hour into the ride Ashley heard familiar voices calling her name. Namely that of Hagrid. "Those  
  
are people from Hogworts. You can leave me here if you wish."   
  
The pegacorn didn't wish. Instead it trotted right towards Hagrid's voice. To Ashley's surprise  
  
Professor Snape was standing with the giant man. Both looked very surprised to see Ashley  
  
astride such a equine as the pegacorn.   
  
"We found her!" Hagrid bellowed even as Snape sent up a shower of green sparks from his wand.  
  
A few minutes later Professor McGonagall and O'Connell appeared. The pegacorn seemed a little  
  
upset suddenly. Ashley couldn't blame it. "Hagrid," Ashley said, "could you help me off? My leg  
  
is broken."   
  
As soon as Hagrid lifted her off the pegacorn the winged and horned horse wheeled about and ran  
  
back into the forest as if something evil was near it. Or maybe it was just shy.   
  
"It seems that Miss Hood is as good at getting into trouble as Mr. Potter." Snape oozed out as  
  
the remaining members of the search party appeared.   
  
Ashley's eyes went to Snape's. "Oh do shut up you pretentious fop. The last thing I need right  
  
now is your nasty high handedness."   
  
"Miss Hood!" McGonagall said, shocked. "Do you wish to lose points for Gryffindor?"   
  
Snape, surprisingly, answered. "No need, Professor McGonagall, I think, under the  
  
circumstances, I can forgive Miss Hood. I, too, have said things while in great pain that I later  
  
regretted."  
  
As Ashley was carried back towards Hogworts, McGonagall, walking alongside Professor  
  
O'Connell, said, "If I didn't know better I'd swear Severus is falling in love with that girl."  
  
Michael O'Connell just smiled a sly, hungry smile.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Harry stared into the flames. Earlier he had asked Hermione what she knew about sirens. The  
  
truth was for once she knew next to nothing. Sirens were so incredibly rare that she even had a  
  
hard time finding books about them. At least the type of siren Ashley was. There was the other  
  
kind that had bird bodies and lured sailors to their doom. Ashley was a very special kind.   
  
He was tossed out of his thoughts by Ginny Weasley suddenly sitting next to him. "You're  
  
worried about Ashley." She said, looking at him. Harry wondered why he never noticed how  
  
pretty her eyes were until now.   
  
"Yeah, and Hermione can't find anything out about sirens." Harry said with a sigh.  
  
"I know about them." Ginny said softly. "Once, when I was about 8, a siren was captured, one  
  
who worked for Voldermort at one time. She was dying so she wasn't much of a threat. I was  
  
with da the day she was brought in. I snuck in when no one was looking and talked to her." Ginny  
  
paused for a bit. "She told me she had no choice - Voldermort had her Heart Charm."  
  
"Heart Charm?" Harry asked, frowning.   
  
"Yes, it's a necklace with a heart shaped pendant on it." Ginny said. "It usually has the birth stone  
  
of the siren. The first time they put it on it activates a spell that protects them from even  
  
Unforgivables. But if someone takes it they can enslave the siren, bend them to their will. Using  
  
them until the siren dies. They're songbirds, Harry, and they don't thrive in captivity."  
  
The color drained from Harry's face. In his mind he saw Snape touching the heart shaped pendant  
  
Ashley had been wearing. But Harry knew Snape wouldn't - Snape was mean and a former Death  
  
Eater, but Harry just had a gut feeling that Snape wasn't the one enslaving and slowly murdering  
  
Ashley.  
  
"Ginny," Harry said, "thank you." And on impulse he kissed her....   
  
Rapture. Harry had dreamed of this moment with Cho - but all thoughts of the older girl was  
  
banished as he kissed Ginny. Her soft lips under his. The little mewl of pleasure in the back of her  
  
throat. Electricity seemed to flow from her and into him and back again. The kiss was innocent  
  
and yet was totally wanton. Harry felt his arms slipping around her, pulling her slightly closer, not  
  
wanting to end this moment. Ginny's arms went up around his neck, slowly they deepened the  
  
kiss to something a little less then innocent....  
  
"HARRY! GINNY!" Ron Weasley roared, bounding over the couch and ripping his best friend  
  
off of his little sister. Pounding his fists into Harry who, so shocked by this, couldn't think to  
  
defend himself. He heard Ron yelling, Ginny yelling - soon Fred and George joined in.   
  
And then sudden as it started it stopped. Music filled the room. The shouting ended and Harry  
  
lowered his arms from his eyes to look around. The common room, full of kids either encouraging  
  
or trying to stop the fight, was now filled with kids under a deep trance. Only himself, Ginny, and  
  
Neville seemed normal. The latter two helped Harry up and pulled him to the door in which  
  
Ashley was standing, looking paler then Nearly Headless Nick but much more solid. As soon as  
  
Harry was out of harm's way she stopped and fell into a chair.   
  
"Keep your bloody paws off my sister!" Ron shouted from across the common room, ready to  
  
start the fight again.  
  
"STOP IT!" Ashley shouted, forcing herself to her shaky legs. "For God's sake, Ron, you can't  
  
protect Ginny forever and if she and Harry want a relationship that's their choice, not your's. You  
  
can't force people to do what they don't want to do. It isn't right! Slavery isn't right...." Her  
  
energy spent, Ashley sunk to the floor. "How can you hurt your best friend and your little sister  
  
that way? How?"  
  
Silence. Dead silence. Then some of the girls whom Ashley had nursed back to health not that  
  
long ago came and took her by the arms, helping her to her room. Ron, Fred, and George slowly  
  
came to the center of the common room.  
  
"Harry," Ron began....  
  
"We're sorry," the twins ended.   
  
"I'm sorry too," Harry said. "I - I wouldn't hurt Ginny, not intentionally. But I wouldn't hurt our  
  
friendship either. It's just that - Ginny gave me some insight into what's wrong with Ashley and I  
  
started kissing her innocently to thank her and - I got swept away. I - it's just that Ginny's gotten  
  
so pretty and everything...."  
  
Ginny turned as red as her hair. Her brothers looked at her as if thru new eyes and suddenly  
  
realized their little sister wasn't so little anymore. All three boys nodded.   
  
"Well," Hermione said, "now that that big of silliness is over, what's this about Ashley?"  
  
Harry told them everything Ginny had said. Hermione's eyes got wide as she exclaimed, "I knew I  
  
saw a necklace on Professor O'Connell! It must be Ashley's charm."  
  
"So O'Connell has her enslaved - but why?" Fred asked.   
  
"And how come you, Neville, and Ginny can resist her?" George added. "Especially when  
  
O'Connell's been trying to teach us to resist her but none of us have succeeded."  
  
Harry shrugged. "I was exposed more. And Ginny knew about sirens so she already knew how to  
  
resist them." He looked to Neville.  
  
Neville bit his bottom lip, then slowly released the breath he had been holding. "My parents are in  
  
Mungo's - they went crazy after some Death Eaters used Cruciatus Curse on them. Grandmother  
  
had me trained to resist things. I'm not very good at it but for some reason I can resist Ashley."  
  
"You think O'Connell's not be teaching us properly?" Ron asked, feeling odd because he had  
  
never talked about things like this with anyone but Harry and Hermione before.   
  
"We'll find out." Harry said.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Please don't make me do this." Ashley begged. "They're my friends and only children. They  
  
don't deserve this."   
  
Michael O'Connell roughly pulled Ashley by the arm. "You don't have a choice as long as I have  
  
this." He touched the heart shaped charm at his throat. "If you want your freedom you'll bring me  
  
Harry Potter. Master won't wait any longer."  
  
"Harry can resist me, you know that. He's been around me so much for so long he's practically  
  
immune now." Ashley sobbed. How could she do this to the boy she loved like a brother? Or even  
  
a son? If only she could get her charm back. But it could only be given back, or stolen by  
  
someone else.   
  
"Hermione and Ron aren't immune." Michael hissed, grabbing her by the hair and twisting it  
  
around his fist. "Sing, now."  
  
"No." Ashley said, fighting against the command. "I won't let you hurt them! I won't!" But  
  
Michael squeezed the charm and unbearable pain shot thru her body. She thought she was going  
  
to die and in the end she just had no choice. Perhaps though she could put an end to this.... for she  
  
didn't have to sing just for Ron and Hermione....  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Harry woke out of a sound sleep to the sound of music. "Ron," he whispered - only to realize  
  
Ron was gone.  
  
Throwing the blankets back, Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak and threw it over himself. Then  
  
he slipped out just in time to see both Ron and Hermione going out the door.   
  
"Oh Ashley," he whispered as he followed his entranced friends, "what is he doing to you?"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
In his room in the castle dungeons, Severus Snape opened his eyes, feeling the spell of magic  
  
weaving itself around him, drawing him out of bed. Yet - he still had the presence of mind to put  
  
on his clothing, to grab his wand. He felt not so much that he was being drawn against his will but  
  
rather answering a cry for help.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ron and Hermione had also put on clothing and grabbed their wands. Though they were deeper in  
  
the trance. Their moved so silently that they walked past a sleeping Mrs. Norris without waking  
  
her up. Behind them followed an invisible Harry - and as they came to the ground floor they were  
  
soon followed by Professor Snape, though, Harry noted, he looked like he was entwined in the  
  
music too.   
  
They made it outside without incident and across the grounds to a path in the forest that seemed  
  
to open up of it's own accord. Harry followed, between his friends and Snape. For hours they  
  
followed the music. As they walked Harry noticed how unnaturally quiet the forest was. Then he  
  
saw them - magical creatures, laying by the side of the path, greatly weakened. Near death, but  
  
not quite there. Unicorns, werewolves, even centaurs and giant spiders. Harry saw them all, laying  
  
there, unable to move.   
  
And then there was the cave. Harry's scar burned viciously. He knew what was inside - and he  
  
had to go.  
  
Lord Voldermort sat on a chair in the cold cave. Harry had expected him to be standing, looking  
  
like he had last time, but instead the most feared wizard looked weak himself. Harry stood aside  
  
as Snape joined Ron and Hermione who now stood in front of Michael O'Connell. The latter  
  
whirled on Ashley, his face a mask of rage.   
  
"I didn't tell you to bring Snape!" He roared. Shaking the chains he had meant to put around the  
  
children at Ashley threateningly.   
  
Ashley stopped singing and weakly smiled. "Surprise." She coughed, blood flecking her lips.   
  
With the stopping of her singing, the three prisoners snapped out of their trance before O'Connell  
  
could imprison them. "Fool," Voldermort hissed even as all three whipped out their wands.   
  
"Run." Ashley said, "You've been brought as bait, for Harry."  
  
"Harry Potter is here," Voldermort said, forcing himself out of his chair. "Though he thinks he  
  
can hide the fact under his cloak."  
  
Throwing off the cloak Harry pulled out his wand. "Four against two." Harry said, though it  
  
sounded lame, as Ashley would say.   
  
"Stupid boy," Voldermort said. "O'Connell, drain the other three."  
  
Michael O'Connell's face changed then, growing pale and gaunt, his mouth opening wide.  
  
Stretching into horrifying proportions. He started to inhale and Ron, Hermione, and Snape all  
  
moaned, falling to their knees, a silver light escaping their bodies and their wands.   
  
Harry understood instantly. Michael O'Connell wasn't human, he was a vampire - a very special  
  
kind that fed on magical essence. All those creatures on the trail had been drained to feed him.  
  
The weakened children were all victims. Even Lord Voldermort had been drained to feed the  
  
beast's hunger.   
  
In a swift motion Harry brought up his wand and shouted the first spell that came to mind,  
  
"Petrificus Totalus!"   
  
O'Connell stiffened, falling over on his side. It was almost anti-climactic. Except even as the  
  
weakened victims scattered O'Connell fought off the charm and bounded across the cave, ripping  
  
the wand from Harry's hands and flinging the boy at Voldermort's feet.  
  
"HARRY!" Ron, Hermione, and Ashley all screamed.  
  
Voldermort raised his wand. "Last time we met, Potter, your wand stopped me from killing you -  
  
and I'm glad. I have a better fate in mind for the likes of you. I think you'll look lovely in my  
  
garden."  
  
As Voldermort roared out the spell of the living statue, Ashley screamed. Not only for Harry but  
  
out of pain of fighting against her master. She flung herself in the path of the curse, pushing Harry  
  
out of the way. Now it was Ashley's name everyone screamed as her skin turned grey. She fell,  
  
her right cheek cracking as stone hit stone, but thankfully that was the only damage done to her  
  
along with a few of her now stone grey curls being chipped off.   
  
It was Snape's turn now. With his wand he let fly with a curse that ripped thru Michael  
  
O'Connell. Ron grabbed Harry's wand as it fell from O'Connell's now dead fingers. Hermione  
  
ripped the necklace from O'Connell's neck even as his body started to crumble into dust.   
  
Harry caught both and spun to face Voldermort....  
  
But Voldermort had Apparated away. Harry's scar no longer burned and Harry knew that  
  
Voldermort, drained by his own servant, had used up all his current strength turning Ashley to  
  
stone and escaping. It would be awhile before he and Harry would meet again.  
  
But Harry knew they would - and next time Harry would be better prepared.  
  
Falling to his knees, Harry reached out and stroked Ashley's face. She had thrown herself  
  
between him and Voldermort - like his mother had done all those years ago. Tears fell from his  
  
eyes and ran down Ashley's face. "Ashley," he whispered reverently.   
  
"Put her necklace on her." Snape snapped, drawing Harry out of his revery. "Don't stare at me.  
  
Put it on her."  
  
Ron and Hermione came over, working together they pulled up Ashley just enough for Harry to  
  
put the chain around her stone throat and clasp it. Then they put her back down as the necklace  
  
started to glow and melt. The liquid gold and melted sapphire mingled with the tears Harry had  
  
cried onto this woman who had come to mean so much to him that he had made her part of his  
  
family.   
  
Her skin glowed golden, then the glow faded and Ashley took a deep breath. Her cheek, slashed  
  
open like a crack in stone, bled severely and as she rolled onto her back Harry could actually see  
  
her teeth thru the gash.   
  
Snape knelt down, removing a vial and poured it over the injured cheek. The gash healed, leaving  
  
behind a jagged pink scar. Gently, Snape used his handkerchief to clean away the blood. Then  
  
even as the children helped their friend up, Snape stood and glared at them.   
  
"I should take away points for you all being out after curfew."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Snape never did take away points, but later when Dumbledore heard the story he awarded 50 of  
  
them apiece. He revealed it was the Ministry who had insisted on the hiring of O'Connell. He  
  
planned on letting them have it for hiding a vampire. As for the pain both he and Ashley felt -  
  
well, when O'Connell fed on Voldermort he carried a bit of Voldermort in him, which caused  
  
Harry's scar to hurt and Ashley's hand hurt because of their very special bond.  
  
With the death of O'Connell Defense Against The Dark Arts was taught by a variety of teachers,  
  
including Professor Binns and several other ghosts. Snape found out how to and successfully  
  
taught them all the real way to resist a siren and the library suddenly had a lot more books on the  
  
subject.   
  
With the return of good health came the return of Quidditch. Ashley was in the stands for every  
  
game. Cheering Harry on. Next year when Fred and George were gone Ashley would become a  
  
beater. She had past flying with - as she put it - flying colors and transfiguration had gotten a lot  
  
easier for her. Gryffindor, of course, won it's every match and took both the Quidditch and House  
  
Cup.   
  
But it was what happened when Harry got back to his muggle neighborhood that the biggest  
  
surprise took place. Instead of taking him back to the Dursleys, Ashley had Jenkins take them to  
  
her official estate. "I talked to Dumbledore - he seemed reluctant at first but then he ended up  
  
agreeing that since we are family...." She held up her hand with it's light scar, not nearly as bad as  
  
the one that marred her cheek. "Welcome home, Harry Potter."  
  
Harry smiled. It was true - for once someplace other then Hogworts was home.  
  
~~The End~~ 


End file.
